Once conference play begins, all games have some level of importance for teams regarding resume-building. That also means that those who lost games will be negatively affected by Bracketology.
The following is a list of teams who should be considered “losers” from the past week.
Dayton Flyers
The Flyers had one of the more shocking losses of the past weekend, losing by double-digits on the road at a George Washington team that didn’t even have its best scorer for the game. That will likely be a Quad 3 loss, and the metrics took a big hit for them. Their non-con work keeps them in the NCAA Tournament field, but they lost a lot of wiggle room, losing to the Revolutionaries.
Maryland Terrapins
The east-west road trips Big Ten teams will have to face will be difficult, so losing them isn’t the worst thing. However, Maryland lost at Washington, who might be the worst team in the conference. That could end up being a truly bad loss for the team, who also missed out on beating Oregon despite having an early double-digit lead. The overall metrics are still great but this was a negative weekend for them.
Butler Bulldogs
At one point, the Bulldogs were 6-1 with wins over Northwestern, SMU, and Mississippi State. It’s been a disaster ever since, losing their last seven games. They lost at home to Villanova and fell at St. John’s to be 0-4 in Big East play and 7-8 overall. At this point, their NCAA Tournament hopes may be all but dead.
Drake Bulldogs
Drake was one of the last four unbeaten teams in the country. But that was ended with a loss at Illinois-Chicago on Wednesday. That can be a forgivable loss but following that up with a home defeat to Murray State isn’t.
And with neither non-con win over Miami or Kansas State looking good, Drake may already be in a position where they need to win the MVC Tournament title to feel good about going dancing.